That can’t be right.

The experts, Democratic politicians, liberal commentators and the political left warned that Wisconsin would become the ultimate example of how to spread the deadly COVID-19 plague.

It would be so because Wisconsin is completely open, without the coronavirus lockdowns, school and restaurant closings, mask wearing and social distancing requirements the experts insisted were absolutely necessary.

Wisconsin has been open since May 13 when the four Republicans on the state Supreme Court overruled the three Democrats and declared that Democratic Gov. Tony Evers didn’t have the authority to extend the state’s “Safer at Home” lockdown until May 26.

Death, we were assured, awaits breakers of the given word. Evers called his state “The Wild West.” Ominously, the media published images of bars packed with people, who presumably within days or weeks would be dead.

Didn’t happen.

Sure one day doesn’t tell the story. So let’s look at the cumulative toll: (here and here)

Illinois, 6,647; Wisconsin, 744.

For those who ripped me for comparing Illinois with Florida, I’ll throw in that state’s fatalities. Deaths yesterday: 17; total deaths: 3,144.

You, of course, will recall that Florida was trashed for opening “too soon.” It still is being ridiculed, as the state records an uptick in the number of cases. That’s due to increased testing and an expected case increase because the coronavirus is quite contagious.

But again, the statistic that counts most is deaths, followed by hospitalizations. Deaths are most important because it is the only way to determine how “deadly” the disease actually is. It is the figure that the experts themselves chose to use when some predicted that two million Americans would die and that hospitals would be packed beyond breaking with COVID-19 cases.

Does the Wisconsin experience prove that nothing should have been closed? No, I don’t think so. But it throws a further wrench into the certainty of those most dire predictions. And adds substance to the argument that the lockdown measures unnecessarily crippled the jobs, businesses and the American economy.

[email protected]

2-year-old Aang is very shy but also very playful once she gets used to a new environment.

She likes being pet, and also likes watching YouTube videos such as

“8 Hour Bird Bonanza”

Aang has tested positive for FeLV but will be re-tested. To meet her write to us at [email protected] !

Hyde Park Cats is a local, all-volunteer group dedicated to helping stray and homeless cats in and around Chicago’s Hyde Park. We received our 501(c)(3) status in 2014 and have had over 1,200 adoptions since our founding in 2008. See all our adoptable kitties on our webpage: http://hydeparkcats.org/adopt/

All of our cats are in loving foster homes, which means the cat you adopt will be familiar with the sounds, smells, and movements of life in a home and accustomed to living with humans. He or she has been interacting on a daily basis with people who know this particular cat intimately, and the foster mom or dad can tell you all about the cat’s individual personality, habits, preferences. You can’t judge a cat by its cover! And while we can’t predict the future or know everything about a cat, we can help you choose the cat who is right for you. We have an adoption application and an adoption fee, $125 for the adoption of one cat, or $250 for a pair. This fee goes towards covering their vet costs. All cats adopted out by us are neutered/spayed, micro-chipped, tested for FIV/FeLV, and treated with Revolution.

Dining al fresco is one of the cherished rites of summer. And this year, with the cancellation of virtually all of the city’s summer festivals, it’s more important than ever.

It’s safe to say that Recess (838 W. Kinzie) in the West Loop looks nothing like any other restaurant in the Chicago area. In lieu of conventional exterior walls, the  14,000-square foot, multi-level patio is rimmed on the street side with battered boxcars, which are also used on the inside to house bars, cabanas and food stations. 

the outdoor scene

.

the exterior of the restaurant

Recess’ bar menu includes a good selection of wine, craft beers, cocktails, frozen drinks

patio seating at Recess

and mixed shots, while the accompanying pub menu focuses on updated classics. Think burgers, pulled pork, salads, loaded tater tots, guacamole, pigs in a blanket and chicken wings. Recess is open for dinner nightly and brunch on weekends.

a spread of smoked oysters at Beatnik on the River

There are two Beatniks: the West Town Beatnik at 1604 W. Chicago Avenue and Beatnik on the River at 180 N. Wacker Drive. Both have outdoor seating, and both pair extensive bar menus with globally-influenced fare. Halfway through the year when travel died, it’s good to know that our palates can still flit from place to place.

Riverside seating at Beatnik on the River

Expect dishes like tandoori masala meatballs, huitlacoche arepa filled with duck confit, watermelon gazpacho with a sprinkle of feta, and Lebanese-style lamb. The weekend brunch menu offers dishes as diverse as fried chicken and waffles, a double cheeseburger and bulgogi fried rice.

Similar menus aside, West Town Beatnik’s outdoor space, complete with a retractable roof, has its own identity. The decor successfully blends Moroccan opulence with the tropical lushness of Bali, and the combination makes it easy to banish worries about all of the problems facing the country for at least a few hours.

the patio at West Town Beatnik

the patio at West Town Beatnik

Beatnik photos by Ethan Jollie

The 2010 MLB Draft included Chris Sale, Christian Yelich, Jacob deGrom and Bryce Harper. Which teams select these stars in a redraft of the first round?

Tweet

• Advertisement:

• Advertisement:

• 
  

  Welcome to ChicagoNow.

  Meet
  our bloggers,
  
  post comments, or
  
  pitch your blog idea.

  Sign in
  Pitch your idea
  Play games

• Subscribe by Email

Completely spam free, opt out any time.

Facebook

Tweets by @ChicagoNow

Latest on ChicagoNow

• Chicago violent crime surging? Watch Judge O’Brien, R Cand. for CC State’s Attorney, dissect State’s Attorney Kim Foxx’s performance, Cable & Web

  from Public Affairs with Jeff Berkowitz by Jeff Berkowitz
  posted today at 7:54 pm

• Meet Your Neighbor: Lighthouse Foundation

  from One Cause At A Time by Gordon Dymowski
  posted today at 6:57 pm

• Pandemic Parenting: The childcare struggle continues

  from Aspiring Dance Mom by Natalie Matthews
  posted today at 6:16 pm

• Car Stuff Podcast: Cadillac Super Cruise and reveals of the 2021 Lexus IS, Nissan Rogue

  from Drive, She Said by Jill Ciminillo
  posted today at 4:55 pm

• Vicki Wood: Breaking Gender Barriers in Auto Racing

  from Girls Go Racing by vettegal
  posted today at 4:21 pm

Posts from related blogs

• 

  Eye on Chi

  Most recent post: 10 years ago today from the Trib and Sun-Times: the Bears reach the Super Bowl

More from News: Media

Read these ChicagoNow blogs

• 

  Cubs Den

  Chicago Cubs news and comprehensive blog, featuring old school baseball writing combined with the latest statistical trends
  • Cubs target big arms and a big bat on Day 2 of MLB Draft
• 

  Pets in need of homes

  Pets available for adoption in the Chicago area
  • Cosmo — Hyde Park Cats
• 

  Show Me Chicago

  Show Me Chicago previews, reviews and expresses opinions on what’s happening in Chicago from Blockbuster Theater, to what’s new in dining, arts, and the neighborhoods.
  • Lincoln Park Zoo announces dates for reopening

Read these ChicagoNow Bloggers

• 

  Ray Salazar, NBCT

  from The White Rhino: A Blog about Education and Latino Issues:
  Latinx Chicago Public Schools valedictorian highlights what class of 2020 must ask itself
• 

  Natalie Matthews

  from Aspiring Dance Mom:
  Pandemic Parenting: The childcare struggle continues
• 

  Tron Griffin

  from Keeping An Eye Out:
  YouTube, for over 10 years I have begged you to get rid of the racist El Negrito Tomas and El Negro Mama

Advertisement:

In the past week, I have seen so many (reactive) posts saying how men need to ‘Protect Black Women’. Yet, I was conflicted and I had to take it with a grain of salt because some of those posts came from people I have actually seen disrespect Black women regularly. I don’t know who needs to be told this, but that phrase is supposed to encompass protecting ALL black women.  Yet I’ve observed that for many of our men, it only seems to apply to the black women in their immediate circle. Like their mother, daughter, sister, friend or the black women they find attractive and ‘worth’ protecting. But what about the rest of the Black women? The ones who have no equity in your life. It’s almost as if those same men don’t even acknowledge that there are other black women outside of their circle that not only need protection, but they need it from those men as well.

I have stopped engaging in these types of online conversations because it always turns into Black women being attacked for speaking collective and shared truths. We are instantly labeled the “bitter, hateful, black women always trying to tear a brotha down” by most men when we share painful and traumatic instances that got us to the point of not feeling safe or protected by our men. We are also smothered into silence by the Pick Me’s who jump right in all too eager to invalidate another woman’s experience with their cries of ‘not the men I know’. So I no longer even respond under posts about “iF tHe BLaCK wOmAN fEeLs sAFe” because I refuse to be incessantly be triggered and go back and forth with purveyors of misogynoir over my very real lived experiences.  Experiences that support why myself and countless other Black women do not feel safe or protected. Period.  I see the men who share and laugh at violent acts towards us. I see who agrees with the disrespectful derogatory banter about us. I notice who shares things that disenfranchises and degrades us. I see it all and I may not say anything, but it is a constant and blatant reminder of how many of our men feel about us. An elder once told me you can tell a person’s true character by how they treat someone who they don’t stand to gain a thing from. And based off this, I see so many of you who simply don’t give a fuck about Black women.

When I walk past men I don’t know, I am always on high alert because I don’t know how I will be greeted or treated EVER. I can only hope to properly read the room and appeal to their higher selves for the sake of my own protection. Because the truth is, I know that if one decides to put his hands on me there is a greater chance of another brother recording it, laughing, and jumping in than there is someone saying ‘Stop. Don’t Do That. Leave Her Alone’ and to proceed to protect me. And you know it’s true. We even saw something like this play out last year where a black woman was harassed outside of her car by what looked like over 50+ black men outside of her car, even groped and smacked her on the behind and NOT ONE helped her or stopped the others. There are too many instances to recall that have gone viral of black women being disrespected, beaten, most recently—hit with  a skateboard, and more by a brotha. We see and experience these aggressions in our real lives and online in what seems to feel like perpetuity. And people still fix their mouths to question us when we say we don’t feel safe or protected. Then gaslight us about it when we speak out and pressure us not to add to our male counterparts ‘load’ as if we are not doing the heaviest of lifting.

I still remember the young sista on the Red Line in Chicago who was stabbed on the train by a brotha she didn’t even know because he couldn’t deal with being told no. He had been harassing her for a while before it escalated to him stabbing her and once again, not one brotha helped her. This struck a deep nerve with me because I can recall on numerous occasions men I did not know in public settings becoming volatile with me for simply declining their advances. And again, no one intervenes, no one helps. I’ve spoken to so many women with a different version of this same scenario and what’s scarier is the assumption many men have where if a man is being violent with you, y’all must be ‘together’ and not to get involved because ‘you ain’t gon leave anyway’. Meanwhile, a stranger is harming you in public (and once again), no one steps in to help. Yet y’all want us to pontificate and claim how ‘safe’ and ‘protected’ we are? Yeah. Okay *insert eyeroll*. The truth is, in my life, the only black men who have intervened in situations where I was unsafe and by myself were queer and trans folk, not cis-het black men.

As much as I would like to think I would be helped by the majority of black men present (if I was alone and was being bothered or felt unsafe), the truth is, I know I’m on my own. EVERY SINGLE TIME. I know I better have my own protection and be prepared to have to save my own life, even in a space full of men. Most Black women know this, but we don’t vocalize it because it has been drummed into us to protect our men at all costs, even at the expense of ourselves. And it hurts. And just like how black folk are all TIRED AF of racism, Black women are TIRED AF of being quiet about having to deal with and accept mistreatment and disrespect for the sake of ‘protecting’ our men. And I KNOW this isn’t all black men. However, If you’re triggered by this instead of taking a reflective moment to simply listen to better understand, then yes, I’m probably talking about you. You, who laugh and share videos of black women being violated. You, who is the first under a post to strike up the ‘not all men’ chorus. You, who become combative and dismissive the moment a woman shares an experience of feeling unsafe, despite thousands of other women agreeing to that shared collective experience. You who ask ‘well what did she do’ before asking ‘is she alright’. You, who insist that us speaking painful truths ‘ tear the black community down’ (without admonishing those at the root of the violation). You, who hang out with men you know are abusive to their partners, but that’s ’none of your business’. You, who knows your 35 year old homeboy has a 17 year old ‘girlfriend’. You, who hangs out with men you know don’t care for their children. You, who TO THIS DAY * in Deontay Wilder voice* who still defend R. Kelly and men in our community like him.

You who allow, encourage, dismiss, and ignore these things and so much more, yet expect us to believe you when you hop on the ‘protect black women’ bandwagon. It’s hard to believe those words when we are inundated with watching actions that say otherwise. The saddest part is that even after I sit and type all this, I already know how it’s going to play out. Maybe a handful of our men will listen and reflect on an uncomfortable truth for many black women. Some of you will ask ‘how can we do better’ or ‘make black women feel safe’? And to that I say by simply being better men, holding the men around you (and those you may come in contact with) accountable to being better and operating at a higher frequency and standard. Uplift and teach young boys (biological and otherwise) to operate differently. Find healthier ways to deal with pain and anger and understand that we, black women, do not exist for the sake of being rehabilitation centers for damaged men. That is where you can start if you sincerely give a fuck. However, what I know is that most will take this as an attack, you know, because hit dogs holler, then become defensive as they go put on their ‘not all black men’ capes. Either way, none of that changes the fact that many of us do not feel safe or protected by the community of our men. I hope to one day, but until then, I know I have to have my own back because we still live in a world where more of our men will assume we ’must have had it coming’ versus simply telling another man to stop violating us.

This article is dedicated to Oluwatoyin Salau, a 19 year old BLM Activist who was recently sexually violated and murdered by one of our men. I am so sorry your light was extinguished in this manner. You deserved protection. You deserved to feel safe.

(And y’all can spare me the emails, DMs, and comments filled with anger and vitriol cause 1) I’m not reading that shit 2) I said what I said and 3) I call out women too, it’s just your turn today)

Due to the current state of the world, more employees are working from home right now than ever before. Although some have been able to return to a physical office, others are working remotely for the foreseeable future. If you’re one of the many still churning out work from home, you may be losing motivation and failing to work at the same level you did before the lockdowns began.

Luckily, boosting productivity may be as simple as buying a decent office chair or reorganizing your space.

Dedicate Space

One of the best ways to improve your home office setup is to dedicate a certain room or area of your house to work. Maybe that means sectioning off a corner of the bedroom or converting the guest room into an office. If you fail to create space, you may have difficulty switching off your mind and computer at the end of the day. In fact, 44% of remote workers struggle to unwind due to this general lack of boundaries.

Declutter Often

Sometimes, even those who have space don’t feel comfortable in it. If this is the case for you, the main culprit may be clutter.

Dog toys, empty coffee mugs and crumpled post-its can all find their way into your home office and create a distraction. Clear your office — and your mind — by decluttering often. Donate things you no longer use, toss the trash and wash those crusty mugs. Afterward, concentrating on work should be much easier.

Choose an Ergonomic Chair

Sure, you want to be comfortable while you’re working, but that doesn’t mean you should slump down onto the couch or into a beanbag chair to work. This setup might work for a few hours, but eventually your bad posture will distract you or even cause you to fall asleep.

Instead, invest in an ergonomic office chair with back support and actually use it. You might be surprised at how quickly your productivity skyrockets.

Stand Up

If you prefer to stand while you work, consider purchasing or making a standing desk for yourself. Make sure you do some research and use the proper anchors instead of nails that will easily come out.  Your desk is going to be holding up some expensive equipment, so make sure it’s put together well. Be sure your desk that fits your proportions so your monitor is at eye level and your keyboard is at your elbows, thus encouraging proper posture.

Standing up even just for a portion of your workday can offset the effects of sitting for too long and may reduce your risk of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and even some cancers.

Invest in Quality Sound

Is music your main motivator to get stuff done? Consider investing in some quality speakers or earbuds to kick your productivity up a notch and boost your mood.

Putting on a good pair of headphones can even block out the sounds of your playing children and barking dog, limiting distractions and helping you concentrate. If you live alone, you might get a turntable so you have to get up, stretch and flip the album every half hour or so.

Add Some Greenery

Sometimes, all you need to optimize and beautify your work from home setup is a few house plants. Incorporate succulents or hanging plants around your home office to brighten it up and remove toxins from the air, thereby refreshing your oxygen supply and improving indoor air quality.

Decorating with plants in this way may even improve your concentration and productivity, reduce stress and boost your mood. It’s worth a try, right?

Making It Work for You

Ultimately, how you decide to improve your home workspace will depend on what motivates you and helps you focus. If you actually find plants distracting, maybe you’ll decorate your space with photos of loved ones instead. Likewise, if you hate the idea of listening to music while working, consider tuning out distractions with earplugs, white noise or ambient sounds.

Through trial and error, you’ll find what works for you. Once you do, simply focus on incorporating those things into your home setup.